Silverton Mountain sued for severe injury to foot passenger on chairlift

[SBrown]

This is kind of interesting.

https://durangoherald.com/articles/...verton-mountain-after-she-fell-from-chairlift

A Durango woman is suing Silverton Mountain on claims that the ski area recklessly disregarded safety protocols after she fell off the top of a high-altitude chairlift platform in March 2016, leaving her paralyzed from the waist down....

According to court documents, on March 20, 2016, Durango resident Gail Goehrig took the chairlift at Silverton Mountain with her daughter, who was living in Silverton, as a foot passenger for the purpose of sightseeing.

As Goehrig was getting off the chairlift, the chair knocked her off the platform and caused her to fall 10 feet head first onto rocks. She was eventually airlifted to St. Mary’s Medical Center in Grand Junction, with multiple severe injuries.

 

[SlideWright]

Huge bummer for her and Silverton Mtn.

 

[SBrown]

Huge bummer for her and Silverton Mtn.

It is. I should probably amend my statement ... it is interesting, in a detached way, but really stinks for everything else.

 

[scott43]

I can see that being a sketch-fest for someone who is less than agile....

 

[fatbob]

Fixed grip? Probably easier to have a no uphill foot passengers in winter rule than deal with stuff like this.

 

[SBrown]

I can see that being a sketch-fest for someone who is less than agile....

Having ridden this chair, I can tell you it is a sketch-fest even on skis. I think the woman was actually a pretty fit, healthy athletic type.

 

[James]

Well now a gondola would have been cheaper...

 

[cosmoliu]

The details are pretty limited, but it seems to me that the lift operators should have paid much more attention to a pedestrian without skis. Anyone on skis skiing at Silverton would certainly have established skills at unloading a ski lift. But a visitor on foot? And that business about having signed a release- How can you possibly hold someone to a release such as that who might have no idea what they might be getting themselves into. Plus the order from the Tram Safety Board to fix a safety problem? Sure has me siding with the injured woman.

Edit: I just looked at the second pic in the article, a head-on shot of the offloading ramp. Yikes! I'd be nervous dismounting even on skis. Particularly if I didn't know my chair mate. And how could you possibly expect a pedestrian to "run" down that ramp?

 

[François Pugh]

According to the article link, it does not look good for Silverton. Not complying with an order that would most likely have prevented this suit .

 

[jmeb]

Everyone I know that has been there's response has been the same: that lift exit is sketchy enough on a skis/board. Let alone on foot.

 

[Mike Rogers]

I'm surprised they would allow food traffic on a fixed grip if they weren't going to stop the chair for the unload.

I'm never happy to see lawsuits, and I don't have much of a perspective or know all the details, but it seems like this accident could have been avoided. Rails would help, but I'm not sure why the woman was allowed to unload this way.

"“Run” to the left"?
I guess...

 

[tball]

Wow. That article really exposes Silverton as the two-bit rinky-dink operation that it is.

Their response is she didn't follow instructions to run away from a fixed grip lift so they didn't have to slow it down?

I feel terrible for the paralyzed woman. Anyone know what the minimum liability insurance is for a Colorado ski area and/or ski lift? Hopefully, she doesn't get stuck owning the ski area.

 

[Monique]

I remember worrying about falling the same way. On skis. But I'm also wondering - was she planning to ride that lift down after? Riding it up is already pretty sketchy!

 

[tball]

From the Durango Herald article:

The court documents include the Tram Safety Board order from 2002, which says, “install rails or snow ramps on the sides of the unloading ramp to reduce the risk of injury to passengers that fail to unload properly.”

Why no rails on most of the platform?

Why has the Tram Safety Board allowed them to continue to run the lift that way for 14 years?

 

[Michael R.]

From the Durango Herald article:

The court documents include the Tram Safety Board order from 2002, which says, “install rails or snow ramps on the sides of the unloading ramp to reduce the risk of injury to passengers that fail to unload properly.”

View attachment 34197

Why no rails most of the platform?

Why has the Tram Safety Board allowed them to continue to run the lift that way for 14 years?

I'm wondering what the exact responsibility is of the tram safety board. Is it just the lift itself, or does it cover loading/uploading platforms, liftie hut, etc?

 

[Michael R.]

And those are aspen trees holding up the platform. WTF

 

[Mendieta]

Edit: I just looked at the second pic in the article, a head-on shot of the offloading ramp. Yikes! I'd be nervous dismounting even on skis. Particularly if I didn't know my chair mate. And how could you possibly expect a pedestrian to "run" down that ramp?

You make a great point. There are inherent risks in moving around a mountain, and not everyone should be able to sue for anything, but that ramp looks to me like a liability on its own. How hard would it be to push snow around it? How many times a season do you need to ski around a fallen person off the lift?

 

[at_nyc]

Not to make excuse for the mountain. But I can imagine on a good snow year, the exit may not be so far off the ground and not half as scary. Plus, they expect the skiers/boarders who come to Silverton are advance in skill level so they can handle the unloading even when it does look like the picture.

It's a totally different matter when foot passengers are involved.

I used to do a lot of lift-served mountain biking. Unloading on foot always involves RUNNING out of the way of the chair! And I vaguely remember with fix grips, they run it at reduced speed. I wouldn't want to foot slide off that ramp, even assuming I can "step aside" out of the way of the chair.

Never been to Silverton. But I do hear occasional grumbling of their operation being a bit "sketchy". This incident is sad for all involved.

 

[Crank]

Is there no attendant at the top?

 

[Lorenzzo]

Normally I would reserve judgement when information is largely coming from a filed complaint but in this case I'm willing to say Silverton and their insurer are screwed.